• Stovetop@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Sometimes. Probably should more often, but when you cook something enough times to know when it’s done, it makes it a bit redundant.

  • AmbiguousProps@lemmy.today
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    2 months ago

    Depends on the meat, if it’s beef, I don’t. If it’s poultry or pork, yes, because I don’t trust myself enough to not get food poisoning.

  • fahfahfahfah@lemmy.billiam.net
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    2 months ago

    I have one of those ones with an external probe, so I just set the temp I want on the thermometer and it beeps when the food is done.

  • aubeynarf@lemmynsfw.com
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    2 months ago

    I am an experienced cook and use one to produce consistent, on-target results. It more often prevents over-cooking, not under-cooking.

  • BanjoShepard@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Yes. Especially for chicken breasts. It’s easy enough to know for sure they’re done, but they’re much easier to eat as soon as they hit 155F. My immune system has never questioned my chicken, but my taste buds are very thankful for the meat thermometer.

  • sbv@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    Yes! There wasn’t a lot of meat prepared in my house as I was growing up, so I didn’t get any experience with it. Having a meat thermometer means I don’t need to guess. It’s good.

    I’ve started cooking meat a lil cooler than recommended, in theory that it’s more tender. With a meat thermometer I know it’s still good.

  • yesman@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Yes. Accurate temperatures guarantee good results. Sous vied is also wonderful for stress free prep of expensive meats.

    • Stovetop@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Sous vide was a game changer for me. I don’t use mine often but break it out when I want to convince people I am not terrible at cooking.

      Just wish that it wasn’t necessary to use so much plastic for it. If there was any sort of plant-based film that food could be sealed in instead, it’d be perfect.

      • mosiacmango@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        Try the reverse sear method instead. You get sous vise like results with no plastic, no water bath, just an oven and a pan.

        I use my toaster oven to do the precook while searing off vegtables in my pan, then get pan wicked hot and sear the steak. Fast, excellent mutlitasking. Works well for pork chops too.

          • mosiacmango@lemm.ee
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            2 months ago

            I find it to basically be exactly the same, but almost no setup. No filling a pot/container with water, putting the stick heater in, ziplocking or vacuum sealing the meat, then waiting an hour+ for it to hit temperature.

            Toss the steaks on a tray, preheat toaster oven in 5 min to 225f, prep and cook the rest of the meal and the sear off the steaks after 20min. Easy as fuck.

            • Drusas@fedia.io
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              2 months ago

              My new stove/oven has air sous vide, as they call it. You still have to bag up whatever you’re cooking, but otherwise it’s a lot less work. Seems to work just fine, but it does take a little longer than liquid sous vide.

                • Drusas@fedia.io
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                  2 months ago

                  It does work. And it is not rebranded convection. In order to cook sous vide, you need to be able to consistently maintain pretty low temperatures. That’s what the oven offers and it works well.

        • Psythik@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          The whole benefit of sous vide is that you can completely forget about the meat—even leave it for days at a time—and it will never overcook. Just take it out anytime, slap it on the stove for a quick sear, and get a perfect medium rare every time.

          As someone with extreme ADHD, this is why I always sous vide my steak. Reverse sear is slow, yes, but there’s still a chance to forget about it and let it overcook.

        • Drusas@fedia.io
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          2 months ago

          I think most people who do sous vide cooking also use the reverse sear method.

          • mosiacmango@lemm.ee
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            2 months ago

            Hopefully as an alternative at times and not as an addition. Doing both wouldn’t have any advantage, as both work to take the internal temp of the meat to a specific state and hold it there.

      • Xraygoggles@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        We use silicon bags and magnets. You let the top of the bag drape over the side of the bucket(tub? basin?) and hold it in place with a few magnets. From what I can tell the results are the same for the steaks and meat we cook and none of the sketchiness from eating slow heated plastic.

      • yesman@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        It’s also great for cheap beef. You can throw a tri-tip or brisket in there and run it for literal days until you have meat as tender as the deli counter, while also being med-rare throughout.

        • Fondots@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          I think possibly the best steak I ever had/made was a cheap chuck steak that I gave a nice long sous vide treatment

          There is a whole lot of flavor there, but it can be as tough as shoe leather, but with sous vide it came out as tender as any filet, but way beefier

    • Drusas@fedia.io
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      2 months ago

      I am a proponent of meet thermometers, but I have to wonder if perhaps you might have considered not cooking things quite as long?

  • AntY@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Yes, but never for meat. I use it when I make toffee, bake bread and some other things.

  • mysticpickle@lemmy.ca
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    2 months ago

    Yes and always. Between learning how to reverse sear and using a meat thermometer, my steak game gained 99 levels once I had quantitative data as to the actual temperature of the meat.

    I’m sure there are savants out there that can tell doneness by poke or reading thrown rat bones but most of us without a thermometer are only pretending to know and likely ruining an expensive piece of meat.

  • TommySoda@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I’m a pretty experienced chef and worked in kitchens for almost 10 years. I liked to pride myself in making steaks on temp by just touch or even looking at it, depending on the cut of course. But when it comes to things like chicken, absolutely. If I wing it (get it?) I end up overcooking it to “be safe.” But with a thermometer you can get it just right without ruining the chicken. I used to hate chicken when I was a kid because my parents always over cooked it to hell and back. Nowadays, now that I know how to cook chicken and use a thermometer, chicken is easily my favorite meat.

  • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
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    2 months ago

    No. I overcook my meat but I don’t really care since I don’t eat it that often at home. Just another thing to wash up afterward.